


Nobody Expects the Inquisition

by Elendiliel



Series: Lightning Strikes [15]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Action, Gen, Jedi as Found Family (Star Wars), Planet Garel (Star Wars), Post-Order 66 (Star Wars)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-17 11:15:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29224545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elendiliel/pseuds/Elendiliel
Summary: A teacher-student pair of Jedi, renegades since the fall of the Republic, respond to reports that one of their shattered Order has escaped Imperial captivity and is in hiding. As ever in such cases, they're about to find a lot more than they bargained for.
Series: Lightning Strikes [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2087898
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	Nobody Expects the Inquisition

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I know they're the Inquisitorius, but I couldn't resist the reference. And I'm not even a big Monty Python fan.
> 
> In sub-fandom terms, the characters are from _Clone Wars_ or my imagination, but the plot is pure _Rebels_.

“I have a bad feeling about this.”

“You’re not the only one.” Exiled Jedi Knight Helli Abbasa could only spare a small part of her brain to respond to her padawan’s concerns. She was too focused on their mission, though she knew that one ignored one’s instincts at one’s peril, especially if one happened to be a Jedi. Helli’s own instincts were pointing in two different directions, which didn’t help. Rumours had reached her and her family that a Jedi Master captured by the Empire over five years before, immediately after the declaration of Order 66, had escaped and fled here, to Garel. An anonymous tip-off seemed to confirm the whispers. While it wasn’t concrete evidence, Helli’s group had voted to investigate.

Rationally, it was the right choice. Helli’s own formal training had only just been complete when she had been put in charge of Lightning Squadron, and she was struggling to teach her six apprentices all that a Jedi should know without introducing too much of the more militaristic skill set she had picked up from her brothers. For all she knew, the seven of them might be a significant fraction of the surviving Order, and she had no intention of letting it become an army again any time soon. Once had been bad enough. Part of her felt that it was important to chase up this lead; another part was screaming “trap”. Strangely, the two parts didn’t seem to contradict one another. Maybe the identity of the trap-setter was the important thing. In any case, Helli and Katooni had been dispatched to find out what was going on, while the rest of Lightning and Thunder Squadrons held the fort back on Onderon.

“Well, according to the message, this is the place. Sense anything?” Katooni’s nose for danger was the best among their cohort, which was one reason she had been chosen for this mission. That, and the fact that she had Hondo Ohnaka wrapped around her little finger. He’d provided their transport, complaining all the time about the damage dealing with Jedi could do to his profit margins. Helli had assured him that it was in neither of their interests for anyone to find out about their arrangement and her true identity. Besides, he was being paid well to act as quartermaster to Onderon’s rebels, and Garel wasn’t out of his way. And he did have genuine affection for Katooni, which she for some strange reason returned.

“There’s something – someone – on the third floor of that building. _That_ room, I think.” Katooni pointed, and Helli extended her own senses in the same direction, confirming her padawan’s findings.

“I agree, though I hardly believe it. Do you recognise that presence?”

“No. Do you?”

“If I’m not much mistaken, that’s Luminara Unduli. I only met her once or twice, but she’s unforgettable.” The Mirialan Jedi Master had been a legend in her lifetime. Possibly still was. “Something’s not quite right, though. Could just be the war, and what happened to her apprentice. That’d unbalance anyone. All the same, let’s be cautious about this.”

“That’s what I’ve been saying all along.” Katooni had a point. She and Byph had voted against the whole enterprise, but been overruled.

No backing out now, though. Reservations notwithstanding, the two Jedi found a less conspicuous vantage point from which to make a full reconnaissance. That district of Garel City was largely derelict, including both the target building and the one directly opposite. Both buildings had just enough stability to make good hiding places and survey locations, respectively. Convenient. Suspiciously convenient. But one couldn’t look a gift fathier in the mouth.

Helli and Katooni stayed in position until nightfall, but saw no one enter or leave the building, and no sign of guards. EM scans for droids, ray shields and the like came back negative, in the good way. Only one large life sign, and a handful of small ones that looked like the native rodents. What they couldn’t see was the state of the building’s internal structure. It would, ironically, be safest to climb onto the roof and rappel down. Katooni was up for that, and Helli had long since learned to suppress her dislike for such proceedings.

They made their move as soon as they had the cover of full darkness. Up the fire escape of another building at the other end of the street (the only one Helli trusted), across the rooftops – careful not to display their Jedi training to any watcher – and down to the window of the room where they hoped Luminara Unduli was.

At first sight, this appeared to be the case. The Mirialan woman somehow still had some of her old dignity, even in prison uniform, huddled up in one corner of the dimly-lit room and staring at nothing. Understandable after what all the survivors of Order 66 had endured, and whatever else the Empire had done to her, but not what Helli would have expected of this one. And if she had reverted to this state, how had she escaped Imperial captivity? Had she had help – or was she bait? Pushing her doubts slightly to one side, Helli approached Unduli and tried to get her attention. “Master? It’s Helli Abbasa. Can you hear me?” Helli’s appearance had changed several times since Order 66. Just then she was wearing a striking mid-brown face with near-black eyes and almost-white blonde hair, straightened much against its will. But Unduli should be able to pick up the presence of two other Jedi, and might even remember her.

Rather than answer, Unduli suddenly stood up, retaining plenty of her old grace, and, without acknowledging either of her visitors, walked to another, darker corner of the room where she appeared to vanish into the shadows. Katooni drew a torch from her belt and shone it towards where the Jedi Master ought to be, and her and her master’s hearts sank through the floor.

Unduli was there, all right. Or rather, her coffin was, and her remains were presumably inside it, still emanating the presence Helli had sensed. What she and Katooni had seen was a hologram. This was a trap, and they were about to meet the hunter.

“Helli Abbasa.” The voice was female, cruel, cold, sneering. “Born on Alba. Inducted into the Jedi Order aged seven. Apprenticed to Master Yord Qass from the age of twelve until his death six years later. Became a full Jedi Knight half a year after that, and subsequently commanded a small team within the 501st Legion. Noted for her respect for all life, skill in combat, both armed and unarmed, unconventional methods and deep affection for her comrades. Reported killed at the end of the Clone Wars, executed for treason. Her body was never found.” The speaker moved into the room, and Katooni’s torch swung towards her, straight at her eyes. Good improvisation there. This woman was clearly no friend, and dazzling her could give them an edge. Normally Helli wouldn’t advise aggravating a potential opponent, but she could sense the malice pouring off this one even over the cloaking effect of Luminara’s body. “Now I see why. I might have expected that someone like you would come running to the aid of one of your own kind.”

“Who are you?” Helli’s question came out almost as a whisper. The other woman was probably human, dressed a little like a Nightsister of Dathomir, but all in black, and her hood fitted closely to her head rather than being pointed. Of her face, only her eyes were visible, as dark as Helli’s appeared to be and as glacial as the newcomer’s voice.

“I am known as Third Sister. But your question should really have been, “ _what_ are you?”” The woman reached for an object at her belt. A black circle of metal bisected by a bar that looked far too much like a lightsabre hilt. And, they very quickly found out, was. A sabre with a red blade.

“Sith.” Katooni’s voice was even quieter than Helli’s.

“No. Merely their servant.” Third Sister flourished the laser sword with a certain amount of dark flair. Flourishing a weapon, in Helli’s book, usually meant the person didn’t know what it was for, but in this case _usually_ was likely to be the operative word. “We Inquisitors have been charged by Lord Vader himself to eliminate all your kind. Master Unduli here has been very useful in that respect. You Jedi are always _so_ compassionate. You can’t see how much it weakens you. Allow me to demonstrate.” Faster than any normal humanoid could, she lunged for Katooni.

Both Jedi were ready for her. Helli’s staff was off her back and barring Third Sister’s blade’s path, forcefield fully active, before it got anywhere near her apprentice. She barely had to think about it. Katooni’s extendable electrostaff, powered, like Helli’s, by the kyber crystal in her sabre, which formed the larger weapon’s core, was also in her hands and in guarding position. Third Sister, pushed back a few steps by the force of Helli’s parry, only smiled (as far as one could tell through her mask) and ignited the other blade of her sabre, before attacking once more with the same blinding speed.

For a few hectic minutes, the galaxy narrowed to the three interlocking weapons and their wielders. Third Sister was outnumbered, but she was swift and strong, and refused to stay on the back foot for long. She intended to kill the two Jedi; they only wanted to keep each other and themselves alive. That imbalance countered Katooni and Helli’s long familiarity with one another’s styles, which made them a formidable team, but as both were well aware not unbeatable.

“Kat, get out of here!” Helli realised she couldn’t concentrate on her opponent when her padawan was also at risk. Katooni was like a daughter to her. They had lived together, trained together, fought together, weathered the storms of adolescence together, for the past five years. And now every time Helli gained the upper hand for any length of time, Third Sister made a move towards Katooni that forced Helli into a defensive position, and vice versa. If either of the Jedi were to stand any chance of winning, they had to get the other to safety, and Helli was still the better fighter.

“I’m not leaving you!” Unfortunately, the reverse argument also applied. Katooni now thought of Helli as her mother, and was just as fiercely protective. Remembering her own apprenticeship, Helli wasn’t surprised. Only annoyed.

“If you don’t, we could _both_ die.” Helli parried an incoming thrust from Third Sister, whose eyes betrayed awful delight at the Jedi’s predicament. “I’ll catch you up. Word of honour.”

“I’ll hold you to that.” As Helli went on the offensive, driving the Inquisitor back, Katooni ducked out from under the clashing weapons and made for the door, reasoning, presumably, that if Third Sister had been waiting out there, there had to be at least some intact floor. She clearly didn’t trust the stairs; Helli heard a grappling gun firing (she’d been around Fives too long), the clamp embedding itself in reassuringly solid-sounding wood and Katooni’s swift descent. Now it was just one on one, and Helli had nothing left to fear.

“You’re wrong,” she gasped. Both women were tiring, Third Sister fractionally faster, though not by quite enough to make a significant difference just yet. “ _Attachment_ is a weakness. _Fear_ is a weakness. _Anger_ is a weakness. _Compassion_ makes us _stronger_.”

“Compassion makes you _fools_.” Third Sister touched a control on her sabre and the blades began to spin, forming a shield. Showoff. “It brought you here, right into my trap.”

“I _knew_ it was likely to be a trap. One way of defusing a trap is to walk into it and break it open from the inside. Now we know who and what you are, and we’ll be on the lookout. And from what I hear of your master, he’s not likely to forgive you for this failure. The Sith never do.”

“Lord Vader gave me _strength_.” Third Sister had rallied enough to try to break through Helli’s defences, and came worryingly close to succeeding. “You Jedi claim to bring peace, but there _is_ no peace, only _passion_ , and through passion my chains are broken.” Helli recognised the seductive nonsense of the Sith creed.

“What chains? The only ones I see around you are the ones your own selfishness and pride have forged.” Helli found herself empathising with the woman even as she went on the offensive once more. It was the only way to survive, for the time being. “The full Jedi Code isn’t everyone’s path, and even for us it’s hard, but there’s a lot to be said for renouncing anger and choosing peace. You should try it. It’s not too late.”

“And become a soft-hearted fool like you? I’d rather die!” The Inquisitor was backing towards the window. Helli recognised a deliberate staged withdrawal, too late. “Your padawan won’t have gone far. I’ll kill her and come back for you.” Spinning her sabre once more, she jumped through the window Helli and Katooni had left open, then swooped upwards, hanging from her multi-purpose weapon. Now _that_ was _really_ showing off.

Helli leaned out of the window, trying to see where Third Sister was going. She was just in time to see the Inquisitor’s sabre hilt being caught by what looked, as far as she could tell in the pitch black, like a line from a grappling gun. The move was so unexpected that Third Sister took a few moments to try to fight back against this new assault, and by then it was too late.

Only one person could have pulled that off. Helli, relieved to see that Third Sister hadn’t simply let go of the sabre – a worryingly strong possibility in people who said things like “I’d rather die” – used her own hook and line to climb back to rooftop level and find out just what Katooni thought she was doing.

By the time she reached the others, Katooni had everything under control, almost. The Inquisitor’s sabre was embedded in a flat section of roof a little way away, the grappling line still attached. The woman herself was lying face down with Katooni kneeling on her back, about to administer a sedative, a task made more difficult by the woman thrashing about, trying to shake her enemy off, with little success. Helli hurried over and held Third Sister still long enough for Katooni to drug her and for the tranquilliser to take effect. Only then did she switch attention to her heart-daughter.

The fight must have been brief but fierce. Katooni had the beginnings of a black eye and some nasty scratches on her cheek, which Helli cleaned and dressed while Katooni explained what had happened. She had known there was a possibility that the Inquisitor would escape and go padawan-hunting, or take her damaging intel back to her master, and her intuition had told her that the best place for a pre-emptive ambush (she really _had_ been around the clones too long) was up high. Accordingly, she had climbed the fire escape they had used earlier and waited. The rest had been improvisation, instinct and training. Third Sister had been tired from her battle with Helli, and too shocked to be ready to fight, and Katooni had been relatively fresh and taught by a Pict and three clone soldiers. In unarmed combat, the Inquisitor hadn’t stood a chance.

“I wasn’t expecting her to do _that_.” Katooni glanced at Third Sister’s sabre and impromptu mode of transport. “I didn’t even know that was _possible_.”

“Nor did I. Now I think I know why it was important to come here – so that we know about these Inquisitors, and can be ready for them in future.”

“But now she knows about us.” Katooni’s expression as she looked at her fallen foe was wary, shot through with alarm, a touch of fear and some of the same compassion Helli had felt earlier. “What are we going to do? Take her with us?”

It was tempting, but Helli’s instincts overruled her heart. “Not just yet. She has to find her own way to the Light, if she ever does, and that will take a long time. And if she disappears, Vader will know something’s wrong. We can’t take that risk.” She chewed her lip, thinking hard.

“But we can’t let her tell anyone about us, and we can’t kill her.” Katooni matched Helli’s expression for a few moments, until an idea occurred to her. Helli knew that look all too well, though she hadn’t expected it on Katooni. It was one she had worn herself, right before she did something daft that later turned out to have been exactly right. She wasn’t surprised when Katooni said, “I know what to do.”

She laid her hands on either side of Third Sister’s head and shut her eyes. Helli sensed her reaching out with the Force, letting it guide her, then shaping it in response. Only when Katooni opened her eyes again and fell forward, obliging her teacher to catch and steady her, did she ask, “What did you just do?”

“Erased her memories of us. And healed her injuries. If we put her back where she was, no-one will know we were here. She didn’t report us; I checked.” Her voice was faint, her eyes trying to close. Helli knew how she felt. She had experience of Force-healing. It took quite a toll.

“Stay here and get your breath back. Have your emergency rations. Mine, too, if you need them – here they are. I’ll deal with this.” Helli retrieved Third Sister’s sabre, switched it off and returned it to its owner’s belt, then slung the unconscious woman over her shoulder and began the climb back to the Inquisitor’s lair, hoping that there was a skylight she could use.

There was. Helli carefully lowered herself and her burden down, laid the Inquisitor gently on the floor outside the room where they had been attacked and ensured that no sign of the fight remained, other than the open window, which she closed as she scrambled back up to the roof once more to rejoin her padawan, who was feeling much better for a rest and two meals.

They made the rendezvous with Hondo by the skin of their teeth. The pirate’s annoyance at nearly being kept waiting was tempered by the excellent deals he had struck while they were on their mission. Knowing his luck, at least one would backfire and he’d blame them, but that was life. And Hondo. He was also a little concerned by Katooni’s injuries and fatigue, but they both assured him she was fine, or would be with a good night’s sleep under her belt.

“I suppose technically I should be telling you off right now,” Helli said as they sat in the common room of Hondo’s ship on the way back to Onderon. “That was reckless, taking her on by yourself, and what you did afterwards. But it’s nothing I haven’t done myself. You followed your instincts and did the right thing, and I’m proud of you.”

“Thank you, Master.” Katooni smiled, still a little sleepy. “I couldn’t have done it without your training. You’re always telling us to trust the Force, even when it seems crazy. And I knew she wouldn’t be so much of a problem after you’d finished with her.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment, shall I?” The Jedi exchanged grins. “All the same, these Inquisitors are going to be an issue. We got away with it this time, and thanks to you they might not find us for a while. But we can’t hide forever. At least now we have some idea of what to expect.”

**Author's Note:**

> For all I know, there may be a canonical Third Sister or Third Brother, but Wookieepedia denies all knowledge, so I took the liberty of filling in the gap rather than risk mischaracterising a canon character I haven't seen.


End file.
